Delhi airport roof collapse: The civil aviation ministry today (June 28) ordered a thorough inspection of the structural strength of all airports in India, following the roof collapse incident at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport of Delhi that left one dead and at least six persons injured.
Following the incident that happened at around 5:00 am on Friday at Terminal 1, the operations at the terminal have been suspended and the flights that are to operate from there have been shifted to T2 and T3. Several flights that were to be operated from T1 were cancelled by IndiGo and SpiceJet.
24x7 war room to be set up for efficient management of passengers at T2, T3
At a review meeting convened by Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu, it was also decided that a 24x7 war room will be set up for efficient management of passengers at T2 and T3.
"The war room will ensure the full refund of cancelled flights or provide alternative travel route tickets," an official statement said.
Complete inspection of 'structural strength' of Indian airports
Further, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been directed to issue a circular to all minor and major airports to conduct a thorough inspection of structural strength.
These inspections must be completed within the next 2-5 days and the reports are to be submitted to the ministry. "Based on the findings, the need for increased safety measures and the development of long term policies to prevent the recurrence of such unfortunate incidents will be formulated at priority," the statement said.
IIT Delhi experts to visit roof collapse site at airport
Structural engineers from IIT Delhi have been asked to immediately assess the incident at the Delhi airport. T1 has only domestic flight operations by IndiGo and SpiceJet. The airport- which has three terminals T1, T2 and T3- handles around 1,400 flight movements daily.
Besides, an "advisory has been released to all airlines to ensure that this situation does not lead to a steep increase in airfare. Airlines to maintain fare stability to avoid passenger inconvenience".
Review meeting by Civil Aviation Minister
Naidu held the review meeting with senior officials of the ministry, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
Delhi Police files FIR in IGI roof collapse matter
The Delhi Police filed an FIR under sections related to death by negligence after the collapse of the roof of Delhi airport's Terminal-1 killed one person. Officials said the Delhi Police has started the probe and will fix responsibility.
The city witnessed heavy rains from around 3 am. At the airport's busy Terminal 1, the rain destruction took a tragic turn. Around 5 am, the massive canopy covering the departure area gave way, trapping several people. Besides the roof sheet, support beams collapsed, pinning down parked cars. A taxi driver, identified as Ramesh Kumar, was rescued from a car on which an iron beam had fallen but was declared dead when he was taken to the Medanta Hospital facility near the terminal. The injured were admitted to the hospital.
The police has registered a case under section 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence) on the complaint of a sub-inspector posted at the Palam Police Station. According to the FIR, the SI had responded to the PCR call at 5.52 am and reached the spot soon after.
The FIR stated that when the police team, reached the spot, it found a huge quantity of rainwater accumulated there. According to a senior police officer, a dedicated team led by an inspector level officer has has been constituted to investigate the exact cause of the incident.
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